I like traffic lights, I like traffic lights, I like traffic lights, but only when they’re green.
-Monty Python
Driving Us Crazy
The dreadful monkey’s paw of the age of transportation, traffic, and congestion are a part of (nearly) all of our lives, and it sucks. When I say it sucks, I mean it sucks empirically; one study found that time spent commuting is “associated with lower levels of life satisfaction” and that commuting was the number one stressor for most people, while another found that each minute spent commuting “reduces job satisfaction, reduces leisure time satisfaction, increases strain and reduces mental health” (this doesn’t apply if you bike). With time spent commuting increasing each year, you’d hope we would be looking for any way to make our commute a smaller and smaller time-suck in our lives.
The worst intersection ever: this is a six-way intersection in Ithaca, NY that I despise navigating. A primo candidate for a traffic-circle. Sorry the trees look weird, blame Google Earth.
Speed (and Safety) Racer
Well have I got news for you: research conducted by Kansas State University and Kansas Department of Transportation found that replacing traditional intersections with roundabouts reduced delays by 20%, and stopping vehicles reduced by 14-37%. A study out of Washington found an 89% reduction in delays, and a 56% reduction in stops. Other studies have found similar things, with delay reduction being constant across studies. These reductions vary from 13% to over 90%, which can likely be explained by how much traffic there was to reduce in the first place, but it is clear that replacing our intersections with traffic circles will save us time and stops. No, this won’t be the end of deadlock traffic downtown, but this is a key way policymakers could markedly improve your everyday.
But wait, they’re efficient, but are they safe? After all, there has to be some reason we use a traditional intersection, right? Well, roundabouts are insanely safe compared to traditional intersections. I mean, truly, astoundingly safe compared to traditional intersections. Loads of studies have been done (I’m not going to describe them all, but here is a link to a page linking to many of them) testing the effect of roundabouts versus regular intersections, and found a” 90 percent reduction in fatal crashes; 76 percent reduction in injury crashes; 30 to 40 percent reduction in pedestrian crashes; and 10 percent reduction in bicycle crashes.” While these benefits are primarily for single-lane roundabouts, they remain (to a lesser extent) for two-lane roundabouts as well. The United States Federal Highway Administration chalks this up to a reduction in possible points of collision and alignment of directional flow, meaning fewer and less severe crashes overall. That alone should be enough, but it gets better: these benefits increase over time as drivers become acquainted with navigating the circle.
The Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France. The real triumph is that massive traffic-circle surrounding the Arc.
City Officials, Act!
There are other benefits to roundabouts: fewer emissions (good for the community and the planet), lower overall maintenance compared to intersections with lights or signs, an opportunity for a nice-looking natural area inside the circle, and lower lifetime vehicle maintenance due to less stop-and go. Let’s ditch intersections whenever possible, they just pale in comparison to all the benefits roundabouts offer. They won’t save the world, but no initiative will, and sometimes its hard to take notice of the things we deal with every day. If your city is redoing or rethinking its road layout, consider voicing your support for these life-saving, time-saving, emissions-reducing road improvements.